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Special Issue of Operations Management Research
National Culture and Service Operations

This special issue is dedicated to studying the effects of national culture on the operations of service firms or the operations of service activities within other firms (e.g., accounts payable, customer service). Manufacturing firms have been global for over a century, however, most of the service sector has become international only recently. For example, trade statistics show $9B in gross U.S. services exports in 1965, $73B in 1985, and $509B in 2009.

Operating a service outside the country of origin often involves cultural conflicts. Top management is typically from the headquarter country, implementing rules and procedures created in the headquarter country through local country employees, perhaps catering to clientele from yet other nations.

Prior research in manufacturing settings has noted that quality management implementation often differs between countries – implementing the same approach in different countries produces different results. The tolerance for ambiguity differs considerably between countries, leading to differential effectiveness of services contracting. Several surveys of offshoring ventures have cited national culture as a prime reason for difficulties or project failure.

Guidelines:

All submissions must adhere to the format, style and other established guidelines for regular OMR submissions

(http://www.springer.com/business+%26+management/production/journal/12063).

This includes a 25 page limit and a special emphasis on application to practice. Manuscripts must be submitted by December 31, 2011. Authors should note that in submitting a manuscript to be reviewed for this special issue, they may be invited to serve as potential reviewers for other manuscripts.

Topics that are of interest for this special issue include, but are not limited to:

• Culture and the efficacy of offshoring services
• Service strategies for culturally diverse customers
• Quality management across cultures
• International service supply chains
• Differential worker attitudes
• Employee compliance across cultures
• Cultural issues in behavioral operations

Please submit an electronic copy in Word or pdf format to Rich Metters at richard_metters@bus.emory.edu.

Special issue co-editors

Donna Marshall
UCD Business Schools
University College Dublin
Dublin, Ireland
donna.marshall@ucd.ie

Rich Metters
Goizueta Business School
Emory University
Atlanta, USA
richard_metters@bus.emory.edu

Mark Pagell
Schulich School of Business
York University
Toronto, Canada
mpagell@schulich.yorku.ca

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